Any first responder knows in an emergency, time is of the essence.
Bruce Bechtold is a former Stearns County deputy. He says cutting minutes or even seconds off response time can make all the difference.
That was the case when his cousin Mark suffered a heart attack nearly a decade ago.
"Firefighter just happened to be nearby with an AED and shocked him and he's alive today," said Bechtold. "If that wouldn't have been there, he wouldn't have survived." There are more than 500 AED's scattered throughout Stearns County according to the nonprofit Advocates for Health.
St. Cloud based mapping firm GeoComm mapped all of them.
The Stearns County Sheriff's Office now has that information in their system.
"Shows up on our screen here so we know where it's located," said dispatcher Megan Kampa.
If dispatchers get a cardiac arrest call, they can let that caller know where the closest AED is. That can be especially useful in rural Stearns County.